"Practicing quietly and training my mind in silence, with no wisdom and nothing gained, I am just a crazy practitioner who cares not of names and forms, but a tiny leaf dancing in the sky." ~~ Acho Rinpoche III

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Tonight,
we did a Guru Rinpoche Prayer with Acho Rinpoche. After which, Acho Rinpoche gave
the two crucial teachings as follows.

First,
in this digital age where social media on the Internet is very effective in information
dissemination, we might accidentally help in disseminating the wrong
information and commit a negative karma when we share information without scrutinizing
its accuracy. Today, there are many Buddhist teachers criticizing the Vajrayana
Buddhism as they fail to understand the more profound teachings unique to this
school of Buddhism. Although they do understand the more basic teachings of
Buddhism and gave the correct discourses on such subjects to their audiences, when
we posted such discourses in the social media, the social media engine will
automatically present other discourses given by the same Buddhist teachers
including their misleading interpretations and criticism of the higher Vajrayana
teachings. So, Acho Rinpoche cautioned us to be careful about sharing Buddhist
discourses in the social media.

He mentioned Venerable Hui
Lu in Taiwan who, although criticized some of the Vajrayana practitioners for
their misconducts, recognized Vajrayana Buddhism as one of the legitimate
schools of Buddhism. Venerable Jin Kong recognized Vajrayana Buddhism as one of
the legitimate schools of Buddhism too, as he studied under Master Zhangjia of
Vajrayana Buddhism in the past and learnt about the profound teachings of
Vajrayana Buddhism. However, he confessed that he is not the right material for
Vajrayana Buddhism and chose Pureland Buddhism for his practice instead. Venerable
Hai Tao was ordained as a Mahayana monk initially but took refuge in the 17th
Karmapa Urgyen Trinley of Karma Kagyud, and he actively promotes the Vajrayana
teachings henceforth. He is being labelled as a “betrayer of the Mahayana Buddhism” by many Mahayana teachers. There is a Mind-only Mahayana
School in Taiwan which openly criticizes Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism and even
displayed huge banners outside its building slamming Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism
as cult. Its members even distribute pamphlets at Mass Rapid Transit stations, outlining
the misdeeds of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism.

Second, when a student consulted
Venerable Hui Lu about which sutras to choose for recitation, he advised them
that any sutras can do. However, he said that the recitation of sutras is just
an expedient method. There are only two truly effective methods which can help
a practitioner attain Buddhahood swiftly: a firm belief in the universal law of
karma (cause-and-effect) and the practice of letting-go. When we firmly believe
in the law of karma, we will be extremely careful about our actions including
our inner thoughts. Letting-go is best explained by the saying “When our crazy
mind stops, our innate state of enlightenment unfolds.” Venerable Hui Lu said
that the Three Tipitakas and Twelve Canons are just too voluminous to be
completely studied by anyone; however, a practitioner could just master the two
methods mentioned and attain enlightenment swiftly. Acho Rinpoche agreed with
his view too but opined that letting-go is easier said than done. Let-go means
letting go of our attachments. Our attachments are the natural outcomes of our
misconceptions and mental fabrications. Mental fabrications are none other than
one’s desire, hatred and ignorance. One desires a pleasant experience and
praises of others but hates an experience which turns out to be against his
wish and the criticism of others. Misconceptions include one’s perceiving his
physical body as real and feeling of distress when his body falls ill, and his
perception of this world being real. Sakyamuni Buddha told us that this life of
ours is not real including this world but ordinary people just cannot
comprehend the profundity of his teachings. A practitioner must transcend the bewildered
state of misconception and mental fabrication, in order to attain the
enlightened state of an Arahat, which is also known as the first level of
Bodhisattvahood and sainthood. However, it is very difficult for one to
eradicate his state of ignorance and attain the ultimate state of letting-go.
How could one let go of his attachments? How could one eradicate his desire,
hatred, ignorance, arrogance and suspicion? How could one maintain a clear and calm
mind amidst the interactions between his six sensual organs (eye, ear, nose,
tongue, body and mind) and the external environmental conditions, while remaining
fully aware of their illusive nature?

Acho Rinpoche said that
our sadhana (daily spiritual practice) book has all the antidotes built-in for treating
the problem caused by misconceptions and mental fabrications. Every section of
the practice consists of visualization (the most crucial antidote), mantra and
mudra, all of which were designed to purify our body, speech and mind, in order
to bring us to an ultimate state free of mental fabrications one day. Ordinary
people are plagued by incessant thoughts (monkey mind). Incessant thoughts are created
by one’s body, speech and mind. So, when we do our daily spiritual practice
according to the Vajrayana teachings, we visualize ourselves transforming into
Guru Rinpoche (purification of mind), chant the heart mantra of Guru Rinpoche
(purification of speech) and form the mudra of Guru Rinpoche (purification of
body), thus cutting the incessant mental fabrications and accomplishing a purified
state of body, speech and mind. Also, when we do the practice, we must
visualize the presence of our foes and friends, our family and relatives, our
fathers and mothers from our past lives, and all sentient beings in the Six
Realms (god, demi-god, human, animal, hell, hungry ghost), with them surrounding
us and doing the practice together. When we prostrate to the holy beings, we
will visualize the numerous sentient beings prostrating to the holy beings at
the same time. When we visualize the holy beings blessing us with lights on our
foreheads, throats and chests, we will visualize the rest of the sentient
beings being blessed by the holy beings likewise. When we invoke the holy
beings to descend to our altars during the practice, we will visualize the
appearance of every single one, one after another. Our visualization must be
done slowly and clearly, for a practice session to be considered as “perfect”.
Last but not least, one must not practise for his own sake but for the sake of
all sentient beings; this is a very important mindset for the attainment of
Buddhahood.

Acho Rinpoche III

Acho Rinpoche is Giam Eng Leng, a Singaporean born in 1952, whose Buddhist name is Lotus Robe. He graduated from the Singapore Nanyang University in 1978, with BA (Honours)Degree. He took great interest in both western and eastern philosophies during his university study, specifically in the area of existentialism. Later, he switched to Buddhism, learning and practicing Buddhism for more than 30 years thenceforth. He took refuge in several spiritual masters including Zen Lin Ping (Kundalini Yoga), Venerable Zu Mo (Sutrayana), Venerable Da Xiong (Zen), H.H. Sakya Trizin (Sakya) and H.H Living Buddha Lian Sheng (True Buddha). He also established good connections with many other spiritual masters. In Dec 2007, he was recognized by H.E Konde Rinpoche from the Nyingma Dzogchen as the 3rd reincarnation of Acho Rinpoche. Konde Rinpoche is the abbot of Horthang Monastery of Nyingma Dzogchen in Qinghai, China. Konde Rinpoche subsequently held an enthronement ceremony in Singapore to formally recognize the reincarnation of Acho Rinpoche III. H.E Dzogchen Rinpoche and H.H Sakya Trizin also formerly supported his recognition as Acho Rinpoche III, among other Buddhist masters. Acho Rinpoche is a householder who practices pure spiritual conduct. He lives beyond name and form, practicing and helping the sentient beings in silence.